Crush

In the USA Today–bestselling author’s “addictive second Karen Vail thriller,” the FBI profiler tracks a serial killer through California wine country (Publishers Weekly).

In this follow-up to the standout bestseller The 7th Victim, Karen Vail ventures to Napa Valley, where a serial killer has been crushing his victims’ windpipes and leaving their bodies in caves. But when the Crush Killer learns that an FBI profiler has joined the Major Crimes Task Force, the newfound attention emboldens him, and he sets in motion a plan that wreaks havoc on the town—as well as the task force. Although a sudden break in the case helps Vail zero in on the identity of the killer, she senses that something isn’t right. If she doesn’t figure it out in time, the consequences will be dire.

In a rousing climax that leaves readers breathless, and which Publishers Weekly termed a “shockeroo ending,” Vail must pick up the pieces—and clean up the carnage left behind by the Crush Killer.

Meticulously researched during years of work with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, this high-velocity thriller from national bestselling author Alan Jacobson features the kind of edge-of-your-seat ending that inspired Nelson DeMille to call Jacobson “a hell of a writer.”
 
Crush is the first installment of a two-part story that concludes with Velocity, book three in the Karen Vail Series.

Alan Jacobson is the national bestselling author of several critically acclaimed novels. In order to take readers behind the scenes to places they might never go, Jacobson has embedded himself in many federal agencies, including spending several years working with two senior profilers at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s vaunted Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico. During that time, Jacobson edited four published FBI research papers on serial offenders, attended numerous FBI training courses, worked with the head firearms instructor at the academy, and received ongoing personalized instruction on serial killers—which continues to this day. He has also worked with high-ranking members of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Marshals Service, the New York Police Department, SWAT teams, local bomb squads, branches of the US military, chief superintendents and detective sergeants at Scotland Yard, criminals, armorers, helicopter pilots, chief executive officers, historians, and Special Forces operators. These experiences have helped him to create gripping, realistic stories and characters. His series protagonist, FBI profiler Karen Vail, resonates with both female and male readers, and writers such as Nelson DeMille, James Patterson, and Michael Connelly have called Vail one of the most compelling heroes in suspense fiction.

Jacobson’s books have been published internationally, and several have been optioned for film and television. A number have been named to Best of the Year lists.

Jacobson has been interviewed extensively on television and radio, including on CNN, NPR, and multiple ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox network affiliates.